Agricultural Chemistry, Application

Wolt, Jeff, Soil Solution Chemistry. Applications to Environmental Science and Agriculture. New York John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1994. 

The 19th century is considered the century of the beginnings of the application of chemistry to the study of soil. However, foundations for these advances had been laid with the discoveries of the previous century. Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, Joseph Priestley, and John Dalton are well-known scientists whose discoveries paved the way for the developments in agricultural chemistry in the 19th century [1,2],... 

Major applications of chitosan were previously focused on sludge dewatering, food processing, and metal ion chelation until the mid-1980s. Further, it has received considerable attention for its commercial applications in agriculture, chemistry, biomedical, food, cosmetic, and biotechnology industries (Alasalvar et ah, 2002 Knorr, 1984 Kurita,... 

The various facts already discussed, and the essential points connected with the application of manures, can- not he better summed up, than in the -words of Liebig in his Principles of Agricultural Chemistry. 

Phipps, Frank, in "A Study of Drift of Aqueous and Propylene Glycol 2,4-D Amine Formulation from Aerial Application" Montgomery, M.M. Witt, J.M. Oregon State University, Dept, of Agricultural Chemistry,... 

A book describing the development of chemistry in Britain over the period 1760-1820 in relation to the contemporary social context makes repeated reference to analytical chemistry. One of the themes developed is that chemistry in general, and analytical chemistry in particular, was seen as a means to social improvement through its applications in agricultural chemistry and mineral analysis. The availability and relative simplicity of much of the apparatus (e.g. the portable laboratories referred to earlier) meant that the appropriate analyses could be widely performed. Chemical analysis also held out the prospect of advances in medicine by applying both simple techniques and the latest technology, especially the voltaic pile, to attempts to analyse body fluids.335... 

Determination of enzyme activity level is important in many applications in clinical medicine, in food science and nutrition, in agricultural chemistry, in biochemistry, and in physiology. Because of the large number of these applications we are highly selective in the following discussion. 

The first section of this book describes the application of LC/MS to the analysis of agricultural chemicals and their metabolites. Using LC/MS for residue analysis in agricultural chemistry has become routine in many laboratories. Many pesticides, such as the chlorophenoxy acid and sulfonyl urea herbicides or organophosphorus and methyl carbamate insecticides, are too polar or thermally labile for analysis via GC. The use of LC/MS for the identification of polar pesticide metabolites and conjugates, an area traditionally dominated by radiolabeled compounds, stands out as a particularly dramatic demonstration of the power of this technique. 

Thiazole and its derivatives are useful compounds in medicinal and agricultural chemistry. The thiazolium ring is present in vitamin B1 and its coenzyme form is important for the decarboxylation of a-keto acids [74]. This heterocyclic system has broad application in drug development for the treatment of inflammation [75] and bacterial [76] and HIV infections [77]. Hence the thiazole nucleus has been much studied in organic and medicinal chemistry. Originally it was synthesized by the Hantzsch reaction (a-halo ketones with thioamides or thioureas) (Equation 4.38) [78]. 

WoLT JD (1994) Soil solution chemistry. Applications to environmental science and agriculture. ] Wiley Sons, New York. 

Just prior to the symposium on "Applications of Biotechnology to Agricultural Chemistry" held at the ACS meeting in Chicago, September 9-12, 1985, John K. Crum, Executive Director of ACS, asked the pertinent question, "Does the American Chemical Society have a role in biotechnology " The symposium and this subsequent publication serve as a strong confirmation that the future of biotechnology is not only compatible with, but dependent on chemistry as well as many other areas of science. 

Some of the effects of biotechnology on agricultural chemistry will be in direct competition with or in opposition to the use of chemicals, such as the development of pest resistant crops taking the place of present pesticides. Other applications will enhance or allow new uses for agricultural chemicals, such as (1) the transfer of herbicide resistance into otherwise... 

This review briefly examines the basis of immunoassay as an analytical method. It outlines current and future applications of these methods to detecting materials of direct importance to agricultural chemistry and crop management. 

The ability to perform quantitative assays on complex mixtures with little sample clean-up is perhaps the most attractive feature of immunoassays for application to agricultural chemistry. A large portion of the cost and labor involved in pesticide residue analysis is invested in sample extraction and clean-up steps to remove substances which may interfere with subsequent chemical analysis. Since most preparatory steps are not required prior to performing an immunoassay, samples can be analyzed much less expensively. This will permit the vast number of data points required for pesticide registration to be gathered in a more timely and cost-effective manner. Studies which were prohibitively expensive because they would have required large numbers of expensive assays can be completed using immunoassay procedures. Such studies may include analysis of pesticide movement from application areas and the rate of dissipation of pesticide from crop tissue, soils, and processed foods. 

Biotechnology and its applications to agricultural chemistry are developing at a phenomenal rate. Since 1983, various symposia, including the one from which this book was developed, have been held to examine the various technical and applied avenues of research in this burgeoning field of science. 

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